Marchers from the San Jose chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc., an organization that provides opportunities for minority youths, take pictures at Yerba Buena Gardens after riding to San Francisco on the Freedom Train.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Marchers from the San Jose chapter of Jack and Jill of America...

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Left: Flags fly onstage for the celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Left: Flags fly onstage for the celebration of the life of Martin...

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Alfred Jackson, 9 years old, rode from the San Mateo train station to march and attend Martin Luther King, Jr., day at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, January 21, 2014.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Alfred Jackson, 9 years old, rode from the San Mateo train station...

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Marchers visit the fountain at Yerba Buena Gardens as they celebrate Martin Luther King day in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, January 21, 2014.

The Freedom Train rolled loud and proud again on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day - which means the tradition will live to roll another year.

Ticket reservations were so paltry last week at 300 that organizers of the train said this year might be its last. But when the railcars pulled out of San Jose and headed for San Francisco with 1,031 riders, all notions of canceling were scrapped.

The very idea that the 30th run of a memorial train ride established by King's widow herself could be the final one had been painful to those spilling off the chartered Caltrain cars into San Francisco at 11 a.m. As it was, cheers of triumph filled the air, along with renditions of the old civil rights songs they'd been singing on the 54-mile ride.

That distance was the mileage King and other activists covered in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., to call for voting rights. Coretta Scott King established the Freedom Train and several others in the 1980s, but the Bay Area trip is the last one left.

"This train was a lot more full than we thought it would be, and that is very good news," said longtime rider Lovell Adams, 53, of Gilroy, as he walked through the terminal with his wife and three children. "It's a very important tradition - it helps us remember, and to keep Dr. King's legacy going. We have to keep it alive."

The riders were met at the station by about 100 people including San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr. Together they marched a mile and a half to Yerba Buena Gardens for a rally on the lawn under the oddly warm January sun. Speakers including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, urged the crowd to keep fighting in King's name for such causes as immigration reform and a higher minimum wage.

"It's not enough just to gather and talk about Martin Luther King," Pelosi told the gathering. "The inspiration he gave us must go on."

Similar rallies and calls for action resonated throughout the Bay Area on Monday, from gatherings in Oakland and Santa Rosa to a march in El Cerrito and a lunchtime gospel performance in Walnut Creek.

The march in San Francisco drew people from many ethnic groups and religious faiths, and as they walked up Third Street, protected by police from the traffic and singing "We Shall Overcome," the progress society has made since King's assassination in 1968 was lost on few.

"We've come a long way," said Suhr, noting that many of the officers walking with him are African American.

One of those officers, Sgt. Yolanda Williams, said that when King was trampling down barriers to civil rights, a black woman such as she probably wouldn't have been hired for the force, let alone made sergeant.

"Look at all this diversity around us," Williams said with a big smile. "This is because of Martin Luther King. This is celebrating our history."

Kathleen Flynn, president of the group that organizes the Freedom Train, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley, said the 1,031 riders were just enough to allow the train to run next year. But she hopes there will be more community involvement in 2015.

Ridership has dropped each year since the NAACP chapter in San Jose pulled its support in 2010 in a political disagreement. At its peak, the train drew 1,600 people.

Many of those marching and giving speeches at Yerba Buena vowed to step up to help.